Chapter 16 The Other with the Crescent Moon and Star Symbol

Oliver and David guided Emily to the path of the dungeons at the edge of the property. Whispers started as the other wolves watched a  frightened Emily being brought to her cell.

A man hurried back to his hut to look for his mate.

"Cecilia! There is something happening within the pack."

A middle-aged woman with streaks of white in her brown hair walked out to the living room of their small hut. "What do you mean?"

"A woman and her family has arrived. There are whispers she is Adella's long lost daughter. She has her golden eyes."

"My niece is here? How can that be? We left her with humans."

"She is the fated mate of Alpha Alexander, our new Luna. A mating ceremony will be happening soon. How he found her, I do not know."

Cecilia sighed. She watched her niece grow up hidden in the shadows. As often as she could, she would visit the red farmhouse with white shutters and say an incantation and place protection charms to keep her safe. Cecilia would wait for Amanda or her mother to make a trip to Chelan in order to this. Amanda would usually bring the big truck for her furniture and clothing deliveries and Cecilia would hide in the truck to and from Chelan.

About 3 months ago, before she made her way to the big truck full of deliveries, she heard a voice saying, "Stop. It is time." The voice was unfamiliar. Surely, it wasn't her wolf. She decided not to listen to the voice and was about to sneak into the truck when she saw one of Alexander's men enter the truck. That was a complication. Even if she were invisible, her scent would surely be picked up in the enclosed space. Now, Stella, her niece, is here. Soon to be Luna to this pack.

The Rogue Lord will know of this soon. He has spies here that lurk in the shadows. "I need to get to my niece soon. I need to help her. Tomorrow, I will slip her a note when I come to take her laundry," Cecilia spoke to herself.

Cecilia looked at her right arm where her Crescent Moon and Star symbol was located. She knew something was happening when her mark started to darken. In the moonlight, the symbol would glisten, a sign her niece was becoming stronger. And tonight under the full moon of the Summer Solstice, she will be marked by Alpha Alexander making her his mate and Luna of the Dark Moon Pack.

She knew The Rogue Lord was looking for her, for them. Just to be safe, she had put a spell on Bruno that doesn't allow him to speak of her to anyone. She would exit the territory from time to time and spread out her scent to throw them off. However, now Stella will become Luna, she can no longer hide. She must train her niece against a mighty foe who is hellbent in killing them all.

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(Hope POV)

I put on my scruffy PJ's I wear when I just want to chill at home and do nothing. I see the food was already on the table. I look out and see the venue of our mating ceremony has been covered with rose petals. The trees were adorned with capiz lights. A trellis with flowers stood at the spot where Alexander and I will be standing. Spotlights surrounded the area. It was just perfect.

I look beyond the venue and see a Magnolia tree with honeysuckles all around it. I remember what the Moon Goddess told me. "Look for the one who carries the symbol of the Crescent Moon and Star," she said.

I put on some sneakers and sneak my way out of the house. Everyone was so busy taking care of the preparations for the mating ceremony to notice.

I walk past the venue and head to the trees towards the direction of the Magnolia tree. The honeysuckles smelled so good. When I reached the tree, I saw a small hut to the side. On the roof of the hut was a symbol of a crescent moon and beside it, a star. Well, I hope this person doesn't hurt me. I walk towards the hut, lift my hands and knock, silently praying I find who I needed to find.

A man opens the door, he gasps with the same frightened look Emily gave me. I turn around to leave, panic taking over me. "Stella? Are you Stella Coeli Brandt?" I stop to face the source of the motherly voice. A woman comes out from behind the man. She was small, with white in her brown hair.

"Stella was the name my biological parents gave me. I, now, go by the name of Hope," I answered her.

"Hope. Oh, my dear child, let me take a look at you." She rushed forward, arms outstretched. "Oh, you have your mother's gold eyes. Your hair seems to be half hers and half your father's. You have grown up to be a beautiful woman."

"Do you happen to have a symbol of the Crescent moon and star on you?" I ask her.

"Yes, here on my arm. Yours, on your hip." She knows. She must be the one I was sent to look for.

"Then it's really you? My aunt. My mother's sister?"

The woman gasped. "How did you know?"

"The Moon Goddess instructed me to find you. She says you can help me," I tell her.

"Just turned 18 and are already communing with the Moon Goddess. This is a happy day indeed."

"Can you come with me to the mansion? Alexander is going to go ballistic when he finds out I left the room. I had an earlier run in with this woman Emily. She tried to kill me."

Her and the man gasped. The woman took off her apron and fixed her hair. "Sure. I will come with you."

I smiled. "What do I call you? Aunt, Auntie?

"Aunt Cecilia. And this is your uncle, my mate, Bruno," she introduces me to the man beside her.

"HOPE! WHERE IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU?! I TURN MY BACK FOR ONE SECOND AND YOU'RE GONE!" I hear Alexander's yell through mind link. Oh, boy! He's angry.

"Alexander, coming. I'm bringing my aunt with me." I mind link him back.

"AUNT?! WOMAN, YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" I guess an Alpha can be a bit melodramatic at times.

I laugh. "Come on. I have an angry Alpha I need to pacify." I grab my aunt's hand and we walk toward the mansion.

As we approached the back of the mansion, I was thanking my aunt for leaving me with the Alarie's when all of a sudden the back door of the mansion opens with a bang and out comes Alexander.

"Hope, you have some explaining to do. Someone attacked you while you were in bathroom and then you run off without even telling anyone." I saw the anger in eyes. I stared back at him with sweet innocence and I saw his gaze soften. A tiny bit.

"Okay. Okay. Chill. The Moon Goddess told me to go look for my aunt. She's been living with you. Here. All this time." I explain to him.

"Cecilia is your aunt?! How do you know for sure? I want the both of you to prove it." That was an easy challenge.

"We both have the same mark."

My mother, perfect timing as always, walks out of the mansion and says, "Ah, is it that little birthmark on your hip, Hope?"

"BIRTHMARK?!" Alexander bellows.

"Alexander Ulrich! Lower your tone this instant. Enough of the yelling!" I growled at him.

He stopped with a frightened look on his face. "Your eyes! They turned green!"

I laugh. At least I can scare the pants off of him. "Yes, I have a birthmark on my hip. See, Mom? He hasn't seen me naked. He's been a perfect gentleman."

Oliver and David both cough "Bullshit!" and Alexander and I glare at them. They both try really hard not to laugh, almost choking.

"Here, this is my mark. Aunt Cecilia, show them yours," I instruct my aunt.

My aunt shows them her right arm and puts her arm close to my hip for a comparison.

"Yup, same mark," Oliver said.

"Did you just look at my mate's hip?!" Alexander says incredulously.

"Alpha, just for a second to see if they have the same mark." Oliver bows his head in respect. Amanda comes waltzing out of the back door of the mansion, giggling at Oliver.

"I told yah so. Dear brother has always been the jealous type. Let me take a look at that." She takes a photo with her camera. "Alright now, you can cover yourself up, Hope. Yeah, same mark. See?" All of them huddle to look at Amanda's picture.

"Mom, this is my Aunt Cecilia. She left me with you." I introduce my mother to my aunt.

My mom hugs her. " You gave me a chance to be a mama. Thank you."

"No thank you. For taking care of her all these years." Cecilia hugged my mother back. They laughed like they were sisters.

"Alexander honey, I need better accommodations for my aunt. She lives at the edge of the property in a small hut. She will be training me."

"You are a Priestess?" Alexander asks my aunt.

"I WAS a Priestess, Alpha. Stopped the night my sister died. My specialty is invisibility. My sister had the gift also but her specialty was the gift of life."

"Hope, sugar, you need to get ready. Alexander, brother, help Hope's aunt please, or there won't be a mating ceremony." Amanda reminds us before entering the mansion.

"Fine. Oliver, David, you two clowns help Aunt Cecilia move to that house." Alexander points to a roof of a house at the side of the mansion. "When you are done, come to the ceremony."

"Thank you Alpha." Cecilia bowed.

"Now, please, let me get ready. Anyone else who stands in the way of me and my mating ceremony will have his or her head ripped off!" Alexander storms back into the mansion.

"Someone needs to get laid." David gives Oliver a knowing look. Oliver laughs.

"Mrs. Alarie, Cecilia, let's get Ms. Cecilia situated."

In the shadows, a figure watches. The Rogue Lord will be most pleased with this bit of information. Hopefully, it will please him immensely, enough to get me a reward.